Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of broadleaf woodland has been planted at an appropriate spacing and with protections from damage from grey squirrels and deer in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Forestry Commission does not hold that data. However, it produces Official Statistics on new planting of woodland in England annually for each financial year in thousands of hectares. Most new planting in the period since 2010 has been supported by Forestry Commission-facilitated grants. Such grant-supported new planting is subject to inspection and there is an expectation that recipients of ongoing maintenance payments will support the careful establishment of their woodland, including appropriate protection from pests such as grey squirrels or deer, which may include tree guards. The areas for new planting of broadleaved woodland are published on Forestry Statistics.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the UK-wide housing measures introduced to protect poultry and captive birds against avian flu introduced by the Animal Health and Plant Health Agency apply to game birds.
Answered by Jo Churchill
An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) came into force across Great Britain on 3 November 2021, and in Northern Ireland on 17 November 2021. Additional housing measures, introduced across the UK from 29 November 2021, make it a legal requirement for all bird keepers across the UK (whether they have pet birds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock) to keep their birds indoors and follow strict biosecurity measures to limit the spread of avian influenza.
Game birds are susceptible to avian influenza and the AIPZ measures, including the housing measures, apply to game birds and all other kept birds. Where housing measures are in force and it is not possible to meet the basic welfare requirements of particular game bird species by housing or fully netting areas, alternative steps must be taken to prevent contact either directly or indirectly with wild birds.
Game birds that have already been released are classified as wild birds and the measures introduced within the AIPZ do not therefore apply.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a national nature service, as proposed by the Wildlife and Countryside Link, to (a) create jobs and (b) help meet nature recovery targets; whether he has had discussions with (i) Cabinet colleagues and (ii) his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on those proposals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is taking forward reforms to put employers at the heart of the skills system to ensure it is responsive to the needs of local economies, as set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper. The increased investment that we plan to drive into nature's recovery over the coming years will create green jobs in various sectors, and a demand from employers for the requisite skills. In preparation for this, Defra is working with relevant sectors and stakeholders to understand its future skills needs in more detail.
The Government is already taking action to create and retain jobs to support nature’s recovery, and to develop a pipeline of talent, in order to support delivery of our commitments in this area. For example, our £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund is enabling environmental charities and their partners across England to create and retain around 2,500 jobs by 2023, including training, apprenticeship and upskilling opportunities that meet the needs of the sector. Additionally, our England Tree Action Plan and Net Zero Strategy tree planting targets will support an estimated 2,000 jobs across England in 2030, including new professional foresters, supervisors, operatives, and adjacent occupations.
Furthermore, Defra is working with DfE on their draft Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy which will increase opportunities for children and young people to engage with nature and develop their skills. We are also working with BEIS, DWP and DfE on Government's wider green jobs and skills policy.
Policy for the natural environment, and skills and education, are devolved matters and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with British Wool on wool prices.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
British Wool is a public body who work on behalf of the wool industry to collect, grade, monitor, market and sell British wool to the international wool textile industry.
Defra officials meet regularly with British Wool, who share regular reports on auction sales and wool values. Although prices fell below 50p per kg for the first time from March 2020 onwards following the outbreak of Covid 19 they have recently recovered to 77.5p per kg.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent studies his Department has undertaken on green alternatives to liquefied petroleum gas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and, as part of the work to meet that commitment, has taken great strides to promote green alternatives to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and other fossil fuels in a range of sectors. This has included gathering evidence on a number of different potential technologies including electrification, hydrogen and biofuels.
For the transport sector, the Government has not undertaken any recent studies into the alternatives to LPG specifically. Our recent Transport Decarbonisation Plan set out how we plan to cut emissions in the transport sector. This includes the phase-out of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and, from 2035, the requirement for all new cars and vans to be 100% zero emission at the tailpipe. Renewable alternatives to LPG, including for example bio-LPG, are supported through the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, which has been in place since 2008. In regard to hydrogen as an alternative, the Government has recently published the first ever UK Hydrogen Strategy, which builds on the Government’s ambition for 5GW low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.
On heating in particular, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy commissioned research into the alternatives to using fossil fuels for heating off the gas grid. These can be found here and include Electric and bioenergy heating in off-gas grid homes: evidence gathering & Electric heating in rural off-gas grid dwellings: technical feasibility.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on relaxing the rules of origin requirements for (a) cigars and (b) cigarillos.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Rules of Origin are a standard feature of all free trade agreements. The Rules of Origin in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement ensure the vast majority of UK exports will benefit from zero tariffs, while protecting industry from unfair competition from products from other countries being imported through the EU.
Overall, businesses have been adjusting well to the new rules and continue to trade effectively. The Government appreciates that increasing business understanding of the rules is a key factor in facilitating tariff-free trade.
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement establishes a Specialised Committee on Customs and Rules of Origin, through which we can work with the EU to resolve implementation issues. EU exporters facing problems accessing the UK market may also wish to engage with the European Commission regarding difficulties faced due to Rules of Origin.
The Government is confident that the general provisions and product specific rules secured in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement will support UK-EU trade across the vast majority of sectors, with valuable facilitations agreed which reflect the nature of UK-EU goods trade.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will bring forward measures to prevent companies from destroying new and unused stock of electrical and other non-perishable goods.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We are aware of the recent news regarding Amazon and the alleged destruction of unsold stock and are closely monitoring the situation.
Businesses that handle waste, including companies such as Amazon, are obliged to follow the waste hierarchy, under our Waste Regulations 2011, which requires action to prevent waste as the priority option. Failure to meet the legal obligation to take all reasonable steps to apply this can lead to enforcement action from the Environment Agency in England.
No business should be sending unwanted electricals to landfill or incineration. We have a producer responsibility system in place to ensure all waste electricals are collected and treated properly, in line with the waste hierarchy.
We are in contact with Amazon regarding this issue and have been absolutely clear that more goods must be reused or recycled to support the government’s ambition to build a more circular economy. Ministers and officials will shortly be meeting with Amazon to discuss this further.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2021 to Question 180582 on Bees: Imports, what steps his Department is taking to minimise the risk that exports from the affected region in southern Italy could enter Northern Ireland via the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The region of Italy affected by Small hive beetle is not permitted to export honey bees, whether to EU member states or to the UK.
Imports which are permitted to enter the Republic of Ireland from other EU member states are subject to requirements involving advance notification and health certification to confirm that consignments are free of key pests and diseases including Small hive beetle.
Similar requirements apply to imports from any EU country including the Republic of Ireland into any part of the UK. We carry out checks on EU honey bee imports into the UK to ensure that consignments are compliant with the rules.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2021 to Question 174243, what steps he is taking to control the risk of small hive beetle being imported from the EU to Great Britain via Northern Ireland.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government recognises that some beekeepers are concerned about the new trading arrangements and the risks of exotic pests entering Great Britain, in particular Small hive beetle.
Small hive beetle would present a serious threat to our honey bees if it were to arrive in the UK. This invasive pest has only been detected in one part of Europe, namely southern Italy, and exports of bees from the affected region into either Great Britain or Northern Ireland are not permitted.
Imports of honey bees into any part of the UK are only accepted from approved countries, and are subject to rules relating to notification and health certification to ensure that imports are free of key pests and diseases.
Movements of honey bee queens, packages and colonies from Northern Ireland to Great Britain remain permitted. There is, and will remain, unfettered access for Northern Ireland goods including honey bees to the rest of the UK market.
We continue to work with colleagues in the Devolved Administrations as part of our monitoring of the new trading arrangements.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce instances of livestock worrying and (b) implement the recommendations made by the National Police Chiefs' Council in February 2018 on addressing the challenges of enforcing the Dogs (protection of Livestock) Act 1953.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
My Department takes the issue of livestock worrying very seriously, recognising the distress this can cause farmers and animals, as well as the financial implications.
All reported crimes should be taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, taken through the courts and met with tough sentences. The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 provides a specific offence of allowing a dog to worry livestock with a maximum fine of £1,000.
The report published by the National Chiefs’ Police Council, as well as other recent reports on livestock worrying, have recommended reforming the 1953 Act to address current enforcement challenges and ensure it remains fit for purpose. We are currently engaging closely with key stakeholders to improve our understanding of the scale of the issue and the views of both livestock keepers and dog owners. That includes considering the effectiveness of this law and opportunities to reduce the occurrence of livestock worrying.
In addition to the 1953 Act, the police can and do take action under the Dogs Act 1871 where there are dogs that are out of control and dangerous to other animals. Section 2 of the 1871 Act allows a complaint to be made to a Magistrate’s court by any individual, the police or local authorities, where a dog is “dangerous and not kept under proper control”. The court may make any Order it considers appropriate to require the owner to keep the dog under proper control, or if necessary, that it be destroyed. The court may specify measures to be taken for keeping the dog under proper control, such as muzzling and remaining on a lead when in public.
Guidance is available to educate owners about handling their dogs responsibly in the vicinity of livestock, in order to prevent the occurrence of attacks or chasing.
The statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs provides owners with information on how to provide for their dog’s natural needs as required by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The Code of Practice explains how to handle dogs responsibly in the vicinity of other animals, including livestock, in order to prevent the occurrence of attacks or chasing. It also clearly sets out that all dogs need to be trained to behave well, ideally from a very young age and should be introduced gradually and positively to different environments, people and animals. If owners become aware of changes in behaviour, or their dog is fearful of, or aggressive, towards other dogs and people, they should avoid the situations which lead to this and seek veterinary advice. The Code asks owners to ensure that they prevent their dogs from chasing or attacking any other animals, including livestock and horses; for example, through use of a lead or avoidance of such situations.
Natural England has recently published a refreshed version of the Countryside Code: advice for countryside visitors (www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-countryside-code/the-countryside-code-advice-for-countryside-visitors). Both the short and long versions of the Countryside Code make specific reference to keeping dogs under control and in sight to make sure they stay away from wildlife, livestock, horses and other people unless invited. The Code helpfully sets out certain legal requirements, encouraging visitors to always check local signs as there are situations when you must keep your dog on a lead for all or part of the year. An associated campaign will run throughout 2021, which will include a broader conversation with stakeholders about what a ‘post Covid’ Code for the 21st century would look like and how to promote more awareness and positive behaviour.